This is indeed a special headphone for a niche market, it really is amazing to think these were first made in the early 50's..!!

They really are from another world.

Build: Essentially bulletproof, if a robber broke into my apartment i would beat him up with the DT48.

Comfort: Has a good strong grip on my head, I can see how people with bigger than normal heads could have a rough time.
The pads are ok nothing special.

Sound: Here is where it gets interesting ....

It should be noted that my current source is the juli@ sound card with a rca to 1/8 adapter and this can not
power the DT48 properly at all , my volume is at nearly 80 % I've never had to go that high not even with hd600 , k701 I can tell these really need an amp of some sort.

-Bass: Bass is just like the k501 , The notes are there and you can here it , but there is almost no impact at all. Bass heads need not apply.
Right now coming out of the Juli@ the bass is not really at the level I would like, doesn't go low enough for me.
I'm sure that will change when I get a dedicated dac and amp.

-Mids: Perfect. could not ask for more. totally flat, voices sound spookiness real as if ears just became mics in a recording studio and the singer is singing into them.

Highs: Extreme detail , some of my mp3's under 192kbps are almost unlistenable. These things are picking up on stuff that the triple.fi 10 wasn't.

The Dt48 has already opened my eyes to a whole new world of headphone listening above the Mid-Fi world of hd600 , K701 and the like .

*edit 1 (further impression)

-I notice something interesting and that is that these are the first headphones that don't make my ears ring after rocking out,
not sure why that is.

..also I was hesitant about putting on some heavy metal through these , but just been listening to some black sabbath and they sound great.

ALSO , The ear cups are getting quite hot inside, in fact sweat/ moisture is building inside the ear cup ?? Weird , im gonna have to watch for that.

*Edit 2-I have now moved on to dance music / trance / happy hardcore even ....

I really thought they wouldn't work with this genre because of lower bass levels than other headphones , but for some reason
bass has has come out of no where ?? and I'm loving my trance like never before ..every thing is so fast and responsive/ snappy.

--------

LAST AND FINAL EDIT**

I am selling these headphones and moving on to try some neutral iems.

In retrospect, I can honestly say that the DT48 were way ahead of their time.

I truly believe, that the DT48 can take you closer to the actual recording , then any headphone I have heard so far.

But let me clarify that, I said RECORDING not performance.

This headphone will not make your commercial music sound ....great.
It will not make your classical LP sound like you are at the concert.
Instead, It will show you the deficiencies in recording techniques.

The DT48, In my opinion , only truly shines when listening to raw, unprocessed sound from digital recorders (like the Samson H4 and mini disc recorders) as well as binaural mic recordings you can find online.

The DT48's main flaw is that it presents neutral bass as seen on a frequency response graph .Unfortunately, flat bass in a headphone does not sound like flat bass from a speaker, it has almost no impact and you can't "feel" the low bass.

In the end, I recommend giving them a try if you have the time and spare $$$
if only for historical purposes, they were the first Hi-Fi headphone afterall.

Looks nice, congratulations.
I really like those older headphones where nigh every part is made of metal.

How well do they isolate?

Not as good as triple.fi 10.
Where as the triple.fi almost totally blocks outside sound.

I can barely hear myself clapping and banging a fork against a glass cup when listening to music on the dt48, and when no music is playing i can hear traffic outside and probably have a conversation with them on.

If listening to any headphones makes your ears ring, you're doing something wrong. Also, what happened to the right pad in the pic? Did you just try taking it off or something?

Sucks about the sweatiness, that's a major turn-off for me, and I do have somewhat of a problem with this issue with some of my headphones.

I just have sensitive ears, I think it's mid bass that does it because certain headphones like grados are worse for me than akg's.

Also about the pad , I bought them used, the guy did say they were used heavily in a real recording studio previously not a big deal I'll just put some duct tape on it for now

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhuang

where did you get it?

Ebay ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by pearljam5000

Are they brand new?how much did they cost?

No , got them on ebay I was lucky because the price wasn't exactly the bargain of the century so people were not rushing to buy it
but since it was located in Canada , I thought what the heck cost me $300 US dollars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ

HD 600 is not mid-fi, you just can't cook them

That is a matter of perspective, in the grand scheme of things they are mid-fi , with he90 etc on top ... and px100 etc on bottom..

Now you know why I have 4 pair.. A 120ohm adapter helps with more impact, but bass does not go low.. Yes, they will improve with better amping. They are very transparent, and will expose your source relentlessly. If a song is bass heavy you will have more bass. If the song is bass light, the 48s will be bass light. A true chamleon.

It should be noted that my current source is the juli@ sound card with a rca to 1/8 adapter and this can not
power the DT48 properly at all , my volume is at nearly 80 % I've never had to go that high not even with hd600 , k701 I can tell these really need an amp of some sort.

What amazes me is how a headphone that is so old technology wise could sound better than modern cans?i couldn't belive it until i had my K-1000 which are relativley "old" compared to newer models,but they did sound better than anything else i heard.